In Defense of Jerry Krause

The man and his family deserved better

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The architect of the six-time World Champion Chicago Bulls said he preferred baseball. His actions substantiated the claim.

“I’m gonna fire you if you don’t go home,” then-Mets GM Omar Minaya had to tell Jerry Krause in 2008. See, Minaya had a rule for his pro scouts: After two consecutive weeks on the road, they had to go home. Krause, however, had one more player he wanted to chase down.

“Jerry loved athletes,” shares Minaya, who is now a senior advisor to baseball operations for the Yankees.

That one player Krause wanted to lay eyes on was Dexter Fowler, who spent most of the 2008 season with the Tulsa Drillers, then the Double-A affiliate of the Rockies.

Fowler was a highly regarded prospect at the time. The center fielder would go on to play for 14 seasons, earning an All-Star nod in 2016 while a member of the Chicago Cubs team that won the World Series.

Last Friday, Krause was posthumously inducted into the Chicago Bulls’ Ring of Honor during a halftime ceremony at the United Center. Thelma, Krause’s widow whom he often spoke glowingly of, represented her husband, who passed away in 2017. Sadly, the home crowd erupted in a chorus of boos once Krause’s name was mentioned. Thelma had nowhere to hide. She was brought to tears.

The documentary miniseries “The Last Dance,” which focuses mainly on Michael Jordan’s final season with the Bulls, did Krause no favors. He became an easy villain. Jordan orchestrated the shots at the former GM.

I worked directly with Krause during my tenure with the Diamondbacks. He was not always easy to be around. But the lack of dignity that Bulls fans displayed is inexcusable.

“What I loved about him was he was a true scout. He was scout’s scout,” says Minaya. “Jerry was a sweetheart and one of the hardest working executives I’ve ever been around… He was one of the best executives in the history of sports.”

Long after overseeing the basketball dynasty in Chicago, Krause was driving across the country — from one minor league ballpark to another — in search of any ballplayer who might give his organization an advantage. He was fueled by competition, perhaps propelled by gaining an edge over those who stood in his way or doubted him.

“He was always searching for the diamond in the rough, and that’s of course how he got [Scottie] Pippen,” Minaya says.

Krause also understood motivation. He once shared with me that after every Bulls championship season, he liked to add one veteran free agent who had never won it all. Doing so, he believed, kept the rest of the team focused. The existing players suddenly had someone to rally around, someone for whom to win a championship.

Krause deserves to have his name among Bulls greats. Thelma deserved much better from the fans. Her late husband’s success is undeniable.

As Minaya concludes: “Try picking on that track record.”

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